KUALA LUMPUR: Lifestyle property developer Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) will raise up to RM500 million through private issue of debt securities (PDS), which will be used for investments, property development expenditure, working capital and/or general corporate purposes across the group.

In a statement yesterday, E&O said it had obtained the Securities Commission’s (SC) nod via a letter received on Oct 31, for the purpose.

This follows E&O’s earlier announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Sept 5, 2014, proposing a PDS issue of 20-year medium-term notes programme and/or seven-year commercial papers programme.

“With the SC’s approval, we are closer to realising our proposal to raise close to half a billion of funds (RM500 million) on a fixed funding cost for a period of five years, enabling us to reduce our exposure to interest rate fluctuations, which in turn will allow us to manage our cash flow more efficiently,” said E&O deputy managing director Eric Chan Kok Leong.

He added that E&O is poised for the next level of growth in line with its three-year business plan.

“The funds to be raised from the proposed PDS will support us as we venture into this new phase of E&O’s evolution with catalyst projects such as Seri Tanjung Pinang Phase 2, Avira Medini Iskandar and Elmina West,” he said.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 4, 2014.